Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Let Freedom Ring USA and We Need A Fence (an immigration project of Let Freedom Ring USA at www.WeNeedAFence.com says that no border security plan without a fence can work. The fence that exists, while intermittent, works nonetheless.

Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring USA states, "The fence assists in reducing the number of illegal American guns going into Mexico. Some believe that 90% of the guns in Mexico are illegal and have come across the U.S. border whereas others believe this number is as low as 17%. While the actual number is somewhere in between these figures the fact is, no illegal guns should be going across our borders and a well-designed, patrolled and continuous fence, would help the number to be drastically reduced."

Many have changed their tune on a fence. Comments have been made by border patrol agents and leading U.S. officials that the number of apprehensions shows that the fence works and that it is considered a tremendous success.

What was once highly criticized as a discriminatory measure against Hispanics is now being praised as a tool that works to protect the southern border of the United States from terrorism. In addition, the fence prevents infiltration of illegal immigrants into the U.S. job market and also cuts down on the infiltration of illegal immigrants into our health care system whichplaces undue burdens on our already overburdened health care costs and professionals.

However, Hanna states that the other necessary ingredients are adequate Border Patrol staffing and technology to prevent the flow of illegal immigration and trade in both directions. "Even though most of the time when discussing the border fence the focus is on preventing illegal immigration headed north into the US, the fence also has the often-overlooked advantage of preventing much of the southbound trade in illegal guns," Hanna adds.

The fence is not an anti-immigrant initiative. In fact, Let Freedom Ring and USAWeNeedAFence.com emphatically state that they are pro-immigration, and that decreasing illegal immigration is only the first step in fixing our broken immigration policy. The second step is increasing legal immigration.